Contents. Foreword. I Installation and Initial Setup 3. II Complete Example: from Lead to Sales Order 11 III RH 21

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Process

63

4 Process 65 4.1 Process Integration in the Management System . . . 65

4.1.1 Examples of Process . . . 65

4.2 Workflows and User Processes . . . 67

4.2.1 Using Processes Effectively . . . 70

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V

DMS

75

5 Integrated Document Management 77

5.1 The Importance of Good Document Management . . . 77

5.2 Classic Document Management Solutions . . . 79

5.3 The OpenERP Solution . . . 80

5.3.1 Getting Started . . . 80

5.4 Internal and External Access using FTP . . . 82

5.5 Mapping between OpenERP Resources and Directories . . . 83

5.6 Managing Attachments . . . 86

5.7 Virtual Files . . . 86

5.8 Standardizing Structures . . . 89

5.9 Optimizing Document Management . . . 91

5.9.1 Searching for Documents . . . 91

5.9.2 Integration with Emails . . . 92

5.9.3 Working with Users’ Changes . . . 92

5.9.4 Version Management . . . 94

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Foreword

Information Systems have played an increasingly visible role over the past several years in improving the competitiveness of business. They are more than just tools for handling repetitive tasks; they will guide and advance all of a company’s daily activities. Integrated Management Software is today very often a key source of significant competitive advantage.

Open Source Software:

Making Business Applications

accessible

Some may look at the Business Application market as a mature market dominated by a few large key players, with no new business opportunities.

This would be ignoring the market reality. So many customers are frustrated by their experience with existing vendors; so many companies around the world need to have access to business applications, but cannot afford them.

OpenERP believes that business applications should not be a luxury. That any company, anywhere in the world, should be able to afford the best tools to professionally expand business. That is one of the reasons why OpenERP needs to break the existing rules of the ERPs and the Business Applications market.

Customers should use their budget smartly and invest in customizing the application to their specific needs, rather than paying expensive license fees. OpenERP is committed to the Open Source Business Model precisely because Open Source allows for this. Open Source is a disruptive model, as it creates more value for the customers.

For decades, customers have developed applications which remained specific to their own needs, and in the end proved extremely expensive to maintain. Open Source means that customers can benefit from past developments of other companies. Also by contributing to the evolution of the software, the users will enjoy the guarantee that their development will be included in future versions of the software. One of the major advantages is that such aCommunitybrings a wealth of new functionality.

Open Source also allows us to engage with our customers differently. Since there is no licensing cost, any potential customer can download, test and use the software. OpenERP has no need for an expensive sales force to promote the product. OpenERP just needs to make the best product and make it available to customers.

Open Source allows for many barriers in this industry to be broken. The software is available to many companies who could otherwise not afford expensive business applications license fees. The OpenERP solution allows customers to use their money smartly and tailor the software to their individual needs. OpenERP leverages from its customer base to enrich the software and finally eradicate any lock-in to allow customers to use and even drop the software freely.

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The OpenERP Solution

OpenERP can build a new breed of business applications, more modular, more customer-friendly, fully web-based, which others cannot due to the heritage of their legacy systems.

OpenERP is a comprehensive suite of business applications including Sales, CRM, Project management, Warehouse management, Manufacturing, Financial management, and Human Resources, just to name a few. More than 1000 OpenERP modules are available from the OpenERP Apps market place (http://apps.openerp.com/).

The key to continued sales success is effective Customer Relationship Management, and that is precisely the main topic of the book you are reading. OpenERP’s CRM and Sales features are flexible and highly developed to assist you in managing all aspects of partner relationships.

OpenERP can share information with the most common email clients, calendars and mobile phones, allowing your staff to build on previous productivity and experience by continuing to use familiar email and office systems, now connected to OpenERP. In a few clicks, your sales person can transfer necessary information to the OpenERP software. You can link important emails to the CRM directly from your current mailbox and even reply from your own mailbox and have the answer stored in your CRM automatically.

Structure of this book

Part One,First Steps with OpenERP(page??), starts with the basic steps to install OpenERP. You will also be introduced to the main concepts, such as Sales Teams & Stages, and you will be guided through a complete workflow, from Quotation to Sales Order. Part One also presents the OpenERP Online offer (SaaS solution), and the configuration wizards in thech-startchapter. To discover OpenERP’s features, you can jump directly to Part Two.

Part Two,part2-begexplains you how to manage your customer relationships with OpenERP. You will learn more about how to manage Leads and Opportunities, to integrate existing communication tools with OpenERP, to efficiently manage a sales and channel department, and to monitor performance. Part Three,part3-crm-market, is devoted to Direct Marketing. In a step-by-step tutorial, we will guide you through the process of setting up a marketing campaign in OpenERP.

Part Four,part4-crm-sales, guides you from quotation to sales order, explaining several advanced sales features.

Finally part Five,part5-crm-install, explains the detailed installation procedures for OpenERP. This chapter also explains how to install the Thunderbird & Outlook plugins, to get the most out of your existing email programs.

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About the authors

Fabien Pinckaers

Fabien Pinckaers was only eighteen years old when he started his first company. Today, over ten years later, he has founded and managed several new technology companies, all based on Free / Open Source software.

He originated Tiny ERP, now OpenERP, and is the director of two companies including OpenERP S.A., the editor of OpenERP. In a few years time, he has grown the Tiny group from one to sixty-five employees without loans or external fund-raising, and while making a profit.

He has also developed several large scale projects, such as Auction-in-Europe.com, which became the leader in the art market in Belgium. Even today people sell more art works there than on ebay.be. He is also the founder of the LUG (Linux User Group) of Louvain-la-Neuve, and of several free projects like OpenReport, OpenStuff and Tiny Report. Educated as a civil engineer (polytechnic), he has won several IT prizes in Europe such as Wired and l’Inscene.

A fierce defender of free software in the enterprise, he is in constant demand as a conference speaker and he is the author of numerous articles dealing with free software in the management of the enterprise. Follow Fabien on his blog http://fptiny.blogspot.com/ or on twitter fpopenerp.

Els Van Vossel

Els Van Vossel always had a dedication to both written and spoken word. Clear and explicit communication is crucial.

Educated as a Professional Translator in Antwerp, she worked as an independent translator on the localization of major ERP software. Els acquired ERP knowledge and decided to start working as a functional ERP consultant and a Technical Communicator for ERP software.

As such, the world of OpenSource software became more and more attractive. She started working with OpenERP software in her free time and doing so, Els really wanted to meet Fabien Pinckaers to share thoughts about documentation and training strategy. At a Partner Meeting she heard Fabien was looking for someone to manage the trainings & documentation. This was absolutely an opportunity to be qualified, and now Els is the OpenERP Training Program Manager and in this job responsible for the worldwide training and certification program of OpenERP.

Being an author of several Software Manuals, she finds it exciting to work on the OpenERP documentation and continuously take it to a higher level. Please note that this is a hell of a job, but Els finds great pleasure in doing it!

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Acknowledgements

From Els Van Vossel

Thank you Fabien, for offering me the opportunity to work with OpenERP. I thank all OpenERP team members for their support and understanding. My special thanks to my family who encouraged me to write this book.

From Fabien Pinckaers

I address my thanks to all of the team at OpenERP for their hard work in preparing, translating and re-reading the book in its various forms. My particular thanks to Laurence Henrion and my family for supporting me throughout all this effort.

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OpenERP is an impressive software system, being easy to use and yet providing great benefits in helping you manage your company. It is easy to install under both Windows and Linux compared with other enterprise-scale systems, and offers unmatched functionality.

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Part I

Installation and Initial Setup

Whether you want to test OpenERP or put it into full production, you have at least two possible starting points:

• you can use OpenERP Online by subscribing to http://www.openerp.com/online/;

• you can install the solution on your own computers to test it in your company’s system environment.

In this chapter, the easy-to-use OpenERP Online solution will be briefly explained. For more information about installing OpenERP on your computer, please refer to the chapterpart5-crm-install.

Some Interesting Websites from OpenERP

• Main Site: http://www.openerp.com,

• OpenERP Online Site: http://www.openerp.com/online, • Online demo at http://demo.openerp.com,

• Documentation site: http://doc.openerp.com/,

• Community discussion forum where you can often receive assistance: http://www.openerp.com/forum/.

Current documentation

The procedure for installing OpenERP and its web server are likely to change and improve with each new version, so you should always check each release’s documentation on the website for the latest installation procedures.

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Use OpenERP Online

1

Nothing is easier for you to discover OpenERP than subscribing to the OpenERP Online offer. You just need a web browser to get started.

The Online service can be particularly useful to small companies, that just want to get going quickly at low cost. You have immediate access to OpenERP’s Integrated Management System built on the type of enterprise architecture used in many organizations.

OpenERP’s Online offer includes several services: hosting at high bandwidth, database management, stable security update, backups, maintenance (24/7 server monitoring), bug fixing and migrations. OpenERP guarantees that the software running on OpenERP Online is exactly the same as the Open Source official version of OpenERP. Any improvement made on OpenERP will be available online. This allows you to easily switch from the online version to the local version anytime.

So even if the OpenERP Online solution might be the best solution to suit your needs today, you can easily switch to an installation on your own servers according to your company’s changing requirements or growth. You are also able to change your service provider anytime, while continuing to use the exact same system. Hence, you do not depend on your host. In addition, OpenERP works with standard and open formats and programming languages which allow you to export your data and use them in any other software.

These advantages give you total control over your data, your software, your platform.

Figure 1.1:Subscribe and Start with OpenERP Online

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http://www.openerp.com/online. After successful registration, you will be able to configure and use OpenERP online. To log in to your OpenERP Online account, you will receive a username and password. You can build the software to fit your needs, at your own pace!

OpenERP Online - Software as a Service - is hosted by OpenERP and paid in the form of a monthly subscription. The pricing model is extremely simple. OpenERP charges a fixed fee per month per user. You will get an invoice each month according to the number of users registered in the system at that time. If you add new users during the next 30 days, they will only be charged with the next invoice. You can find the details of current pricing and payment options at http://www.openerp.com/online.

Free Trial

For a month’s free trial, check out OpenERP’s http://www.openerp.com/online, which enables you to get started quickly without incurring costs for integration or for buying computer systems. After the free trial expires, you can easily continue using OpenERP Online.

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Getting Started with OpenERP Online

2

If you want to focus on your customers, you need tools: to capture all the knowledge you have available; to help you analyze what you know; to make it easy to use all of that knowledge and analysis. OpenERP invites you to discover the CRM & Sales Management Business Application!

In this chapter, you can start exploring OpenERP!

Use a web browser of your choice to connect to OpenERP Web.

Figure 2.1:Web Client at Startup

OpenERP suggests that you configure your database using a series of questions. In the software, these series of questions are managed through so-calledConfiguration Wizards.

Click theStart Configurationbutton to continue.

The next configuration wizard will help you to decide what your user interface will look like, whether the screens will only show the most important fields -Simplified- or whether you also want to see the fields for the more advanced users, theExtendedview. SelectExtendedand clickNextto continue.

User Preferences

You can easily switch from Simplified to Extended view by changing your

User Preferences.

In the next wizard, you can fill your company data, select your company’s base currency and add your company logo which can be printed on reports. ClickNextto continue.

Select the Customer Relationship Management and Sales Management business applications for installation and clickInstall. Now OpenERP will start to install CRM & Sales, allowing

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you to do a complete sales cycle, from lead / opportunity to quotation and sales order. You will have to wait for the next configuration wizard to be displayed (Loadingwill appear).

Figure 2.2:Selecting the CRM & Sales Functionality

OpenERP’s modularity enables you to install a single Business Application (such as CRM) if that is all you need. Of course, you can choose to also install Sales Management, to handle quotations, sales orders and sales invoices as well. For now, please install Customer Relationship ManagementandSales Management, as these two Business Applications will be discussed in this book.

Reconfigure

Keep in mind that you can change or reconfigure the system any time, for instance through theReconfigureoption in the main bar.

When you choose a business application for installation, OpenERP will automatically propose to add or configure related (smaller) applications to enrich your system. When you install CRM, OpenERP will also ask you whether you want to install Fetchmail, or Sales FAQ, for instance.

The figure Selecting Accounting Configuration (page 9) shows the Accounting Application Configuration screen that appears when you selectSales Managementto be installed.

Indeed, accounting is required to create sales invoices. Select theGeneric Chart of Accountand fill in the Sale Tax (%) applicable in your country. ClickConfigureto continue the configuration.

Accounting

Please note that you can perfectly well use OpenERP’s CRM without doing your accounting in OpenERP. When you only install CRM, there is no need to configure accounting.

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Figure 2.3:Selecting Accounting Configuration

...), keep track of leads and/or opportunities, manage meetings & phone calls, share (sales) knowledge and much more.

The figureSelecting CRM Configuration(page 9) shows the CRM Application Configuration screen that appears when you selectCustomer Relationship Managementto be installed.

Figure 2.4:Selecting CRM Configuration

To stay in line with what will be described later in this book, please install the following options: • Opportunity to Quotationwill be checked by default, allowing you to create quotations

from an opportunity,

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• Calendar Synchronizing to link your OpenERP calendar to your mobile device, for instance,

• Fetch Emailsto manage incoming and outgoing emails in OpenERP directly,

• ThunderbirdorOutlookaccording to the email client you are using, to link your current mailbox to OpenERP and to create new leads or partners in OpenERP, directly from your mailbox.

If you have selected all of the above options, the following Configuration Wizards will appear: • Configure yourSalesapplication: clickConfigureto accept the default settings (no options

checked).

• Configure yourKnowledgeapplication: clickConfigureto accept the default settings. • Thunderbird / Outlook Plug-in Configuration: for now, you only have to click the Save as

button to save the plug-in to your disk (or desktop). Then you can clickConfigureto continue the installation.

• Configure yourAccountingapplication: clickConfigureto accept the default settings. • Configure yourSalesapplication: clickConfigureto accept the default settings.

• Knowledge application configuration: clickNextto accept the default settings for the server address.

Plug-ins

For the configuration of the plug-in, please refer to the settings in chapter

thunderoroutl.

OpenERP’s menu will be displayed, because your system is now ready for actual configuration. To get started, you click the Sales button in OpenERP’s main screen. In the next chapterch-teamyou will start working in the CRM application by telling OpenERP how your company’s sales teams are organized. As your business is growing and evolving all the time, your requirements as to the use of OpenERP are likely to change. To sustain your growth, you can easily extend your CRM with other OpenERP business applications, such as logistics or HR, to name some. OpenERP offers this flexibility; you can start with one business application, such as Customer Relationship Management, and gradually complete OpenERP to suit your ever changing needs!

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Part II

Complete Example: from Lead to

Sales Order

In this chapter, we will show you a complete sales flow, from lead to opportunity to quotation to sales order in a step-by-step scenario.

First you will get an explanation about the use case (what Thomas or one of his colleagues is supposed to do). Then the Noteswill learn you how Thomas (or a colleague of his) enters the information in OpenERP CRM. For the simplicity of the use case, we will do all of the steps under the Admin user.

Simplified or Extended View

In OpenERP your user interface will look slightly different according to the User Preferences. InSimplifiedview, the screens will only show the most important fields / tab pages. To see also the fields for the more advanced users, you should switch to the Extended view. You can easily switch from Simplified to Extended view by changing your User Preferencesthrough the‘Edit Preferences´ button. For this use case, please switch to ´Extended´ view.

1. Create a new campaign

Your company is exhibiting at the “House & Design” Fair in Paris and Thomas, a salesman of your company, meets lots of prospects during this event. Because Luc, the Sales Manager, would like to know the return on investment from hiring a stand at this fair, he asks Thomas, who will be hosting this event, to make a “House & Design” campaign.

Campaign

To create a new campaign, Thomas goes toSales→Configuration→Sales

→Campaignsand clicks theNewbutton. In theCampaign Namefield, he typesHouse & Design.

2. Create and qualify a new lead

Thomas has to enter all contacts he met at the House & Design Fair as a new lead (contacts, prospects), assigning each individual lead to the “House & Design” campaign. He will start by adding a lead for Mr. John Doe of theThe Interior Design Companywho is interested in redecorating his office.

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Figure 2.5:Campaign

Leads

To create a new lead, Thomas goes toSales→Leadsand clicks theNew

button. The subject of a lead is in blue, because it is a mandatory field, so Thomas entersPotential interior design customerin that field. He uses theNotesfield to add more information about the lead. When saving the lead, it will be in Draft state. Thomas opens it for further follow-up. In the chapterpart2-crm-leadsyou will find more details about lead creation.

Figure 2.6:Example of a Lead

To contact his leads after the Fair and check if any of them can be qualified as a business opportunity, Thomas would like to group his leads by the “House & Design” Campaign, to have an overview of all the leads generated through this campaign.

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Group by

To group his leads by campaign, Thomas goes toSales→Leadsand clicks theGroup bylist to show the buttons he can use. He clicks theCampaign

button and notices that no lead is visible, but only the various campaigns. Each campaign has an arrow in front; he clicks the arrow to display all the leads for that campaign.

Figure 2.7:Leads grouped by Campaign

3. Convert the lead into an opportunity and create a new customer

Because the lead for John Doe fromThe Interior Design Companylooks promising, Thomas decides to convert it into an opportunity and at the same time add a new Customer to the company’s address book.

On the business opportunity, the salesman should provide more information, such as the estimated income. Thomas indicates that the expected revenue would be 5,000.00 C, and that the success rate of the opportunity at this stage is 20%.

Thomas sets Luc, the sales manager, as the person responsible to follow up the opportunity. He also sets the date for the next action and describes that he has to call the potential customer to plan a meeting with Luc, the sales manager.

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Convert to Opportunity

To convert the lead into an opportunity, Thomas goes to Sales→ Sales

→ Leads and opens the lead concerned (there are various possibilities to quickly find the lead he needs). Thomas opens the lead and clicks the Convert to Opportunity button (he can also do this from the list of leads by clicking the Convert to Opportunity arrow of the lead concerned). OpenERP asks Thomas whether he wants to create a new partner. He confirms by clickingContinueto add the new potential customer to your company’s address book. Then he clicks Next to convert the promising lead into an opportunity. In the Expected Revenue field, Thomas types 5,000.00 C, and he enters a success rate of 20%. Thomas clicks theCreate Opportunitybutton. As aNext Action Date, he sets tomorrow’s date and in theNext Actionfield he typesPhone customer to plan meeting.

Filters

The Advanced Search View provides a very user-friendly filtering mechanism to easily look up desired records from the list.

Usually, a filter view is composed of three elements, theFilterbuttons at the top, theExtended Filters

and theGroup byoption.

These filters are dynamic, so according to filters you apply, extra columns may be added to the view.

You can also easily combine filters; an arrow will be displayed and you will get a structure according to the order in which you clicked theFilterbuttons.

Simply by changing the order in which you select your buttons, you will get a completely different filtered view. E.g. select Salesman first, then Campaign or vice versa.

4. Plan a meeting

One day later, Thomas contacts the prospect and convinces him to meet Luc so that the sales manager can give more information about the product range in view of a quotation.

Thomas plans a meeting for Luc. This meeting is organized next week with the customer and is related to the opportunity. He sets a reminder for Luc.

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Figure 2.8:Convert Lead to Opportunity

Meeting

Thomas goes to the list of opportunities through Sales → Sales →

Opportunities to check his next actions. He opens the opportunity and contacts John Doe. He enters the key elements of his phone call in the

Detailsfield. To plan the meeting, Thomas clicks theSchedule Meeting

button and clicks theWeekbutton in the Calendar view. He uses the drag and drop function to schedule the meeting for Luc. He plans the meeting next week from 2 pm to 3 pm. He sets Luc as the person responsible and sets a reminder to be send 2 hours before the start of the meeting. He also changes theNext Action Datein the opportunity to the meeting date.

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5. Log an incoming phone call from the customer

Figure 2.10:Incoming (Inbound) Call

A few days later, John Doe calls and Eric, the Product Manager, answers the phone. The customer asks Eric if Luc, the Sales Manager, can bring a product catalog when he comes to see him.

Eric enters a summary of the phone call as an inbound call, and links it toThe Interior Design Company.

Phone Calls

Eric goes toSales→Sales→Phone Callsand clicksInbound, thenNew

to start entering the call. The call can be entered in the line. In theCall Summary, he entersBring product catalog on next visit and assigns the call toThe Interior Design Company. He enters a summary of the phone call in theDescriptionfield so that Luc knows exactly what has been discussed.

Call Summary

Eric can also click the Form view button to open the call form, so that he can add a summary of the phone call in theDescriptionfield to make sure that Luc knows exactly what has been discussed.

6. Check the history of the customer

To prepare his meeting withThe Interior Design Company, Luc checks the related customer form to get the history of all related events.

History

Luc goes toSales→Address Book→Customersand typesInteriorin the

Namefield and clicksSearch. He clicks the customer to open the form. On theHistorytab, Luc gets an overview of all the events, such as meetings and phone calls. So he notices that he has to bring a product catalog to the meeting.

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Figure 2.11:Customer History

During the meeting, the customerThe Interior Design Companyfinally asks to receive a quotation for an Office Desk and Chair. Luc generates the quotation directly from the business opportunity.

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Quotation & Products

Luc opens the opportunity concerned fromSales→Sales→Opportunities. He clicks theConvert to Quotebutton, thenCreateto make a quotation that is automatically linked to the opportunity. Now he can enter the products he will be selling. Luc has to create a new product, because the desk ordered is a brand new product. From the sales order line, Luc presses the F1 button in theProductfield to create a new product. He enters the data as specified in the screenshot. To print the quotation, he clicksQuotation / Orderin the

Reportssection at the right side of the screen.

8. Check the pipeline of revenues for the next months

Luc, the Sales Manager, would also like to check the quality of his sales team, and he would like to know the delay to close the opportunity. He would like to see the average closing time for the House & Design campaign.

Average Closing Time

From the Sales → Reporting → Opportunities Analysis, Luc finds the average time taken to successfully respond to a request from a customer in theDelay to Closefield. Instead of using the default grouping by salesman, Luc clicks the Salesman button in the Group by list to no longer group by salesman, and then he clicks theCampaignbutton to group by campaign.

9. Convert the quotation into a sales order

After some discussion about the prices, the customer decides to sign a contract. Luc confirms the quotation to turn it into a sales order.

Sales Orders

Luc opens the quotation concerned fromSales→Sales Orders. He clicks the Quotation button to see no confirmed sales orders. He opens the quotation by clicking the pencil in front of it, and changes the prices. Then he clicks theConfirm Orderbutton to turn the quotation into a sales order. To print the sales order, he clicksQuotation / Orderin theReportssection at the right side of the screen.

Below you find a graphical representation of the sales flow we explained before; the part from quotation to sales order. This view is available in OpenERP. You can open thisProcess viewby clicking the question mark next to theSales Ordertitle.

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Figure 2.13:From Quotation to Invoice

Figure 2.14:View Buttons

Before going to the next chapter, just a quick word about the different View buttons in OpenERP. The screenshot below shows the kinds of buttons available. Each button represents a different way of looking at data.

From the opportunities screen, Thomas will click the first List view button to get an overview of several opportunities at a time. When Thomas wants more information about a specific opportunity, he will switch toFormview. Then Thomas decides he wants to see the opportunities in a graphical representation, so he clicks theGraph(3rd) button to display a graph with the opportunities expressed according to Category versus Expected Revenue. He could choose to display the opportunities in

Calendar view. Thomas wants to see his meetings in a bar chart representation, and so he clicks the

Ganntview button. To see a process representation of his marketing campaign, he clicks theDiagram

view button.

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Part III

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Key Features HR

3

This chapter describes OpenERP’s main Human Resources and Employee Services features. Most of the solutions discussed after this chapter concern management by business or by project, and depend mostly on analytic accounting, with each business or project represented by an analytic account.

A company’s effectiveness depends on its employees’ good work. OpenERP’s Human Resources modules enable you to manage important aspects of staff work efficiently, such as their skills, contracts, and working time.

For this chapter, you should start with a fresh database that includes demo data. To configure the Human Resource Application you should checkHuman Resourcesin the following configuration wizard.

Figure 3.1:Human Resources Application in the Configuration wizard

3.1 Managing Human Resources

To establish a system that is integrated into the company’s management, you need to start with a current list of collaborators.

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Do not confuse employees and users

For OpenERP, “employee” represents all of the physical people who have a work contract with the company. This includes all types of contracts: contracts with both fixed and indeterminate time periods, and also independent and freelance service contracts.

A “user” is a physical person who is given access to the company’s systems. Most employees are users but some users are not employees: external partners can have access to parts of the system.

Here are some examples of functions which depend on the accuracy of the employee list: • the cost of a service, which depends on the employee’s working contract,

• project planning, which depends on the work pattern of the project contributors, • the client billing rate, which probably depends on the employee’s job function,

• the chain of command, or responsibilities, which is related to the hierarchical structure of the company.

3.1.1 Link employees and OpenERP users to facilitate the management

of rights

To define a new employee in OpenERP, use the menuHuman Resources→Employees.

Start by entering the employee’s name in Name and the company that this employee works for in

Company. You can then create a new user of the OpenERP system linked to this employee by filling in a newUserform through theUserfield.

Even if the employee is not a user, it is best if you create a system access for most of your staff just so that you can control their access rights from the outset (and you can do that through this field if you need to).

Employee and User link.

If the employee has a user account on the system, you always link his or her user account to the employee form.

Creating this link enables automatic completion to be done on theEmployee

field in the relevant forms, such as services and expense records.

Then enter the employee’s address.

This appears in the partner contact form in OpenERP. Since employees are people that have contracts with your company, it is logical that they have entries like any other partner in your database. So enter the name of the employee as a new partner Name and the address in the Partner Contact section of the

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Figure 3.2:Form describing an employee

General tab. Then all of the functions that apply to a partner can also be applied to an employee. This is particularly useful for tracking debits and credits in the accounts – so you can track salary payments, for example.

To help employees encode and validate timesheets and attendances, you can install

hr_timesheet_sheet by selecting Timesheets in the Reconfigure wizard. You can then set both an analytic journal and a linked product to this employee in theTimesheetstab. If you do it that way, then this information can be used to track services. For now, just complete the form with the following information:

• Analytic Journal: usually aTimesheet Journal,

• Product: a service product that describes how this employee would be charged out, for example asService on Timesheet.

3.1.2 Define employees’ billing prices and costs

To be able to use the timesheets at all, you must first define those employees who are system users. The employee definition forms contain the information necessary to use that sheet, such as the job title, and hourly costs.

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Two fields will be of particular interest to you for managing timesheets: theAnalytic Journaland the

Product.

All the analytic entries about the costs of service times will be stored in the analytic journal. These enable you to isolate the cost of service from other company costs, such as the purchase of raw materials, expenses receipts and subcontracting. You can use different journals for each employee to separate costs by department or by function.

The employee is also associated with a product in your database in OpenERP. An employee is linked with a product, so they can be ‘bought’ (subcontracting) or ‘invoiced’ (project management). You have to create a product for each job type in your company.

The following information is important in the product form:

• Name:Secretary,SalespersonorProject Manager

• Product Type:Service

• Unit of Measure:HourorDay

• Cost Price

• Sale Price

• Costing Method: eitherStandard PriceorAverage Price

Price Indexation

When theCosting MethodisAverage Pricein theProduct form, you can have a buttonUpdate, beside theCost Pricefield, that opens up a wizard for changing the cost price.

In summary, each company employee corresponds, in most cases, to: • aPartner

• anEmployeeform, • aSystem User.

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Time Charge Rates

By default, the hourly cost of an employee is given by the standard cost of the product linked to that employee. But if you install thehr_contract

module, it is possible to manage contracts differently. The hourly cost of the employee is then automatically calculated from their employment contract when they enter their timesheet data.

To do this, the software uses a factor defined in the contract type (for example, the gross monthly salary, calculated per day). Ideally, this factor should take into account the salary costs, taxes, insurances and other overheads associated with pay.

3.1.3 Define employee categories to assign different Holiday’s rights to

different employee groups

You must create and assign employee categories for employees in order to be able to assign and manage leave and allocation requests by category. You can define employee categories fromHuman Resources

→Configuration→Human Resources→Employees→Categories of Employee. For a new category, define its name inCategory. A category may also be assigned aParent Category.

Figure 3.3:Example of categories defined for employees

To link an employee to a category, open the employee form through Human Resources → Human Resources→Employees. In theCategoriestab, you can assign more than one category to an employee by clickingAddand selecting a category.

Now, when you create a new leave or allocation request from the menuitems underHuman Resources

→ Holidays, if your Leave Category or Allocation Category is By Employee Category, then you must choose a pre-definedCategory. The request will then be applicable to all those employees who belong to the category selected. For example, you can create an allocation request for employees belonging to theTraineecategory, entitling them to fewer leaves than the rest of the employees.

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Figure 3.4:Assign categories to an employee in the Employee form

3.1.4 Define contract types and wage types with start and end dates for

contracts as well as trial periods

If you install thehr_contractmodule you can link contract details to the employee record. The configuration wizard to install this module is shown below.

Figure 3.5:Configuration wizard to install hr_contract

Define new contract types atHuman Resources→Configuration→Human Resources→Contract→

Contract Types.

You may similarly define wage types atHuman Resources→Configuration→Human Resources→

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Figure 3.6:Contract Types list

• Wage Type Name: A name for the wage type.

• Wage Period: Select a pre-defined wage period. Wage periods are defined atHuman Resources

→Configuration→Human Resources→Contract→Wage period. • Type: EitherGrossorNet.

• Factor for hour cost: Used by the timesheet system to compute the price of an hour of work based on the contract of an employee.

Figure 3.7:Wage Type form

UsingHuman Resources→Human Resources→Contractsyou can create and edit contracts. You can enter information about the employment contract for the employee, such as:

• Contract Reference

• Job Title

• Working Schedule

• Start Date

• End Date

• Wage Type: Select one from pre-defined wage types. • Contract Type: Select one from pre-defined contract types.

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Figure 3.8:Definition of a working contract for a given employee

• Trial Start Date: Start date for the contract trial period, if any. • Trial End Date: End date for the contract trial period, if any.

3.1.5 Manage attendance (Sign in / Sign out)

In some companies, staff have to sign in when they arrive at work and sign out again at the end of the day. If each employee has been linked to a system user, then they can sign into OpenERP by using the menuHuman Resources→Attendances→Sign in / Sign out.

If an employee has forgotten to sign out on leaving, the system proposes that they sign out manually and type in the time that they left when they come in again the next day. This gives you a simple way of managing forgotten sign-outs.

Find employee attendance details from their forms inHuman Resources→Employees.

To get the detail of attendances from an employee’s form in OpenERP, you can use the available reports: • Attendances By Month

• Attendances By Week

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The last report highlights errors in attendance data entry. It shows you whether an employee has entered the time of entry or exit manually and the differences between the actual and expected sign out time and the sign in time.

The second report shows the attendance data for the selected month.

3.2 Talent Acquisition

Using OpenERP, you can efficiently manage the process of hiring new people for your organization. It is a well managed recruitment process from initial contact to hiring the applicant. You need to install

hr_recruitmentmodule to efficiently manage the recruitment process. The configuration wizard to install this module is shown below:

Figure 3.9:Configuration wizard to install hr_recruitment module

TheApplicantsform can be seen from the menuHuman Resources→Recruitment→Applicants. You can manage the following information using the Applicants form:

• Applicant’s Name

• Applied Job

• Department

• Stage: can beInitial Job Demand,Salary Negotiation, ... • Responsible: Responsible person who conducts the interview

• Contactinformation

• Contract Data: including Availability, Expected Salary, Proposed Salary • Qualificationof the applicant

• State: reflects the actual status of the recruitment process likeNew,In Progress,Pending,

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Figure 3.10:Applicant recruitment form

Initially, the applicant state isNew, after that it can be converted toIn Progress. If the applicant is at one of the different stages like it may be inWaiting for approval by human resource department

orWaiting for offer acceptance by applicant, in these cases, the applicant state should bePending. When the status isHired, you can find that applicant’s detail from the list of employees.

The information about the Job Position can be maintained by the menu Human Resources →

Recruitment→Job Positions.

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The key features of OpenERP for the process of hiring new people usinghr_recruitmentmodule are:

• It manages job positions and the recruitment process.

• It is integrated with thesurveymodule to allow you to define interviews for different jobs. • This module is integrated with the mail gateway to automatically track emails sent to

[email protected].

• It is also integrated with the document management system to store and search CVs in your CV base.

You can analyse data of recruitment process through the menuHuman Resources →Reporting →

Recruitment Analysis.

3.2.1 Create applicants automatically based on incoming mail and keep

track of attachments such as resumes and cover letters

You have seen how to create new applicants from theApplicantsform. You can also configure your email server in OpenERP to create new applicants based on incoming mails. For example, if you have an e-mail [email protected], you can configure it such that all emails received at this ID automatically generate new job applicants.

For this, you have to install thefetchmailmodule by using theReconfigurewizard and configuring

Fetch Emailsfor installation in theCRM Application Configurationsection.

Navigate toSales→Configuration→Emails→Email Serversand clickNew. Supply the following information in theEmail Serversform:

• Name: A name for the server configuration.

• Server Type: EitherPOP ServerorIMAP Server.

• Add Attachment: Set toTrue, to be able to retrieve attachments like CVs, cover letters, etc. • Server: Server name.

• Port: Server port.

• User Name: The username on this e-mail server.

• Password: The password for access to this e-mail account.

• Model : The object model for which you wish to generate a record. Select Applicant

(hr.applicant) in this case.

After configuring your server, click theConfirmbutton to enable this configuration and start receiving e-mails.

Whenever you receive a new e-mail at the configured e-mail address, a new applicant record is created having the same subject name as the e-mail subject. The applicants e-mail details are stored too, for

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Figure 3.12:Configuring an e-mail server

future correspondence. You can add more details to this job application. You can view these newly created applicants fromHuman Resources →Recruitment →Applicants and by clicking theClear

button to clear all filters. In the figureJob applicants automatically created from e-mails(page 34), the top three applicants have been created automatically from received e-mails.

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Because you have configured your server to add attachments, if an incoming applicant e-mail contains attachments, it will be linked to the corresponding applicant record. You can find it in theAttachments

section at the right of the applicant form. You can click on the attachment name to open it.

Figure 3.14:Applicant form with its corresponding attachments

3.2.2 Define stages to track the progress in the recruitment process

Rarely will a recruitment process end after just a single meeting or a phone call. It is in fact a string of stages through which a recruitment progresses in order to bear a favourable outcome. You can define the stages which a recruitment process would undergo. Use the menuHuman Resources→Configuration

→Recruitment→Stagesto define various stages.

Figure 3.15:Defining recruitment stages

You must give the stage aName. Use theSequencefield to give a sequence order when displaying a list of stages. You may also associate the stage with aDepartment. The stages that you have defined then become available in theApplicantsform’s Stagefield. Using this, you can qualify an ongoing recruitment process from one stage to another.

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3.2.3 Define next action and next action dates

TheNext Action DateandNext Actionfields on theApplicantsform let you define an action you would like to initiate on a given date. It serves as a reminder to the recruitment officer regarding what step he must take next and on which date.

3.2.4 Track the history of the e-mail communication with the applicant

Using theCommunication & Historytab in theApplicantsform, you can add notes for internal reference or send e-mails to the applicant. You can also view the history of communication and notes for a recruitment application in theHistorysection. If you specify e-mail addresses in theGlobal CCfield, these e-mail addresses will be added to theCCfield of all inbound and outbound e-mails for this record before being sent. You can separate multiple e-mail addresses with a comma.

To create an internal note, click theAdd Internal Notebutton. Add a note description in the popup that appears. You also have a choice to change the application state at this stage. ClickAddto save the note and see it listed in theHistorysection.

To send an e-mail to the applicant, click theSend New Emailbutton. In the popup, you must enter the following:

• From: E-mail address used to send an e-mail. • Reply To: E-mail address for receiving a reply. • To: The applicants e-mail address

• Subject: Subject of the e-mail. By default, it takes the subject of the recruitment application. • Message: The message to send in the e-mail.

Here too, you have a choice to change the application state. You may also add attachments through the

Attachmentstab in the popup. ClickSendto send the e-mail. You can see a listing of the correspondence as shown in the figure below:

3.2.5 Plan phone calls or appointments

One of the advantages of using thehr_recruitmentmodule is that you can plan and organise phone calls to and appointments with prospective employees. This is made possible due to its integration with

crmmodule’s Phone Calls and Meetings features.

You can schedule a phone call from theApplicantsform by clicking thePhone Callbutton. This brings up a popup as shown below:

You can enter the following details in the popup:

• Assign To: The user who is responsible for making the call. • Planned Date: The scheduled date and time to make the call.

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Figure 3.16:Send an e-mail to the applicant

Figure 3.17:History of communication for the recruitment application

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• Goals: The agenda of the phone call.

• Category: Whether the call isOutbound(default) orInbound.

You can then click theSchedule Phone Callbutton to create a plan for making the call. If theCategory

of your phone call isOutbound, theOutbound form opens where you may add additional details. Once you have made the phone call, you can enter theDurationas well and click theHeldbutton. You can track and evolve your plans of phone calls to an applicant fromSales→Phone Calls→Outbound.

Figure 3.19:Details of an outbound phone call to an applicant

Just like you schedule phone calls, you can also schedule meetings with an applicant. To do this, click theMeetingbutton on theApplicantsform. A calendar of meetings opens in theMeetingsform. Here, you click an empty area on a date for which you wish to schedule the meeting. A popup appears as shown below:

You can manage the following details from this form:

• Summary: Is the recruitment application subject by default, although you can change it. • Start Date: The scheduled start date and time.

• End Date: The scheduled end date and time. • Duration: The duration of the meeting in hours. • Location: Location of the meeting.

• Reminder: If you want to be reminded about the meeting, you can select an alarm time before the event occurs.

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Figure 3.20:Schedule a meeting with an applicant

On theInvitation Detailtab, you also have the choice to invite people for the meeting. ClickSaveonce you have entered the necessary details. You can then see the meeting appear in the calendar as shown below:

Figure 3.21:The scheduled meeting “Trainee - MCA” with the applicant as seen in the calendar

You can track and edit your meetings with applicants from the menuSales→Meetings→Meetings. By default, you will see the month-wise calendar view of meetings.

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3.2.6 Fill questionnaires for each applicant (for instance preliminary

questionnaires)

You can use questionnaires as a tool to interview a job applicant. To be able to use questionnaires for a job applicant you must first define one throughTools→Surveys→Define Surveys→Survey. Click

Newto open a new survey form. You may enter theSurvey Titleand theResponsibleuser for the survey.

Figure 3.22:The survey form

A survey may have multiple pages. Each page may contain multiple questions and each question may have multiple answers. Different users may give different answers to the questions. You can define these in theSurveytab of the form. When you have entered the necessary details in the form, click

Save. Since you will use this survey in a job interview, click theOpenbutton to change the survey’s state fromDrafttoOpen.

Then, go to Human Resources→Recruitment →Job Positionsand select the job position that the applicant has applied for, or create a new job position. In theSurveyfield of theJob Positionsform, enter the name of the survey you have just created, thus linking a questionnaire with this job profile and making it available for use during the interview.

You can now open the form of the applicant whose interview you wish to initiate. If anApplied Job

is specified to which a survey is linked, theAnswerbutton becomes accessible. Click it to initiate the survey, and fill in the applicant’s response as you proceed. After the questionnaire has been completed,

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you can click theInterviewbutton on theApplicantsform to view the applicant’s response in a PDF file.

Figure 3.23:The applicant’s response in a PDF file

3.3 Holiday Management

You can manage leaves taken by employees using the hr_holidaysmodule. The configuration wizard to install this module is shown below:

Using the menuHuman Resources→Holidays→Leave Requestsan employee can request a leave. Leaves requests can be recorded by employees and validated by their managers. Once a leave request is validated, it appears automatically in the agenda of the employee. You can define several allocation types (paid holidays, sickness, etc.) and manage allocations per type.

OpenERP can provide the following features for efficient holiday management process: • It helps you to manage leaves and leave requests.

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Figure 3.24:Configuration wizard to install hr_holidays module

• Synchronisation with an internal agenda (use ofcrm) is possible: in order to automatically create a case when a holiday request is accepted, you have to link the holidays status to a case section. • You can set up colour preferences according to your leave type, for example,Sick Leaveshould

be red in reports.

• An employee can request for more days off, by making a new Allocation Request throughHuman Resources→Holidays→Allocation Requests.

The statistical report for leaves can be seen using theHuman Resources→Reporting→Holidays→

Leaves Analysismenu.

3.3.1 Define different leave types

You can define various leave types which can be availed of by an employee during a request for leave. To define a new leave type, navigate toHuman Resources→Configuration→Holidays→Leave Type

and clickNew.

Figure 3.25:Leave Type form

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• Leave Type: A name for the leave type.

• Colour in Report: A colour that will be used in the leaves summary report.

• Meeting: If you select a meeting, once a leave is validated, an event will be created in the calendar.

• Apply Double Validation: IfTrue, then the request will require a second validator.

• Allow to Override Limit: IfTrue, the employee will be allowed to take more leaves than the maximum limit.

After entering the leave type information, clickSave.

3.3.2 Manage Holiday requests and approvals

An employee can request for leave fromHuman Resources→Holidays→Leave Requests. In a new

Leave Requestsform, you may enter the following: • Description: Reason for leave.

• Leave Category: EitherBy EmployeeorBy Employee Category.

• Employee: If leave category isBy Employee, you must select an employee who places this request.

• Category : If leave category is By Employee Category, you must select an employee category which places this request.

• Leave Type: Select a pre-defined type of leave. • Start Date: Leave start date.

• End Date: Leave end date.

• Number of Days: It is calculated based on theStart Dateand theEnd Date.

The employee can clickConfirmto make the leave request available to his manager for approval. The employee’s manager can find leave requests awaiting approval by navigating toHuman Resources→

Holidays→Leave Requestsand clickingClearandTo Approvefilter button. The manager can select a pending request to open its form view and clickRefuseto reject the request or Approveto accept the request. If the selected leave type hasApply Double Validationset toTrue, then another action by a second manager will be required to give the request its final state, from Waiting Second Approvalto eitherApprovedorRefused.

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Figure 3.26:Leave Requests form

3.3.3 Track previous Holiday requests

Previous holidays can be tracked in a number of ways in OpenERP. You can get a report of leave requests by all users fromHuman Resources→Holidays→Leave Requests. ClickClearand then

Validatedto see a list of all approved leave requests. To see refused requests, clickClearand see the records marked with the colour red.

To see previous allocation requests, navigate toHuman Resources→Holidays→Allocation Requests

and follow the same procedure as above.

ThroughHuman Resources→Holidays→Leaves Summary, you can track previous leaves as well as allocation requests in the same manner, but only for the currently logged in user. By default, you can see the requests grouped by leave type.

Human Resources→Reporting→Holidays→Leaves Analysiswill give you the statistical report of leaves and allocations grouped by employee and leave type. To see all requests without grouping, click

Clear.

All the above statistical reports are enhanced by various filters and groupings to assist you in your search for required information. You can filter requests by theirState(Validated,To Confirm,To Approve),

Employee,DepartmentandLeave Type. You can also view requests placed inThis Month. You can group byEmployee,Manager,Department,TypeandState.

To get an overview of leaves by department, go to Human Resource→ Reporting→ Holidays→

Leaves by Department. You may select a Fromdate, aLeave Type(Validated,Confirmedor

Both Validated and Confirmed) and select atleast one department. ClickPrintto generate a PDF report based on your specifications.

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Figure 3.27:Leaves Analysis statistical report

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3.3.4 Allow employees to enter their own allocation requests

To be able to request leaves at all, an employee must be allocated some leaves which he can avail of. Usually the management makes an allocation of leaves for its employees. But, for instance, when an employee has been working on an exceptional basis on weekends, he might be entitled to extra leaves. In such a case, the employee himself can be allowed to place a request for allocation, which can then be approved or rejected by his manager. If approved, the employee can request leaves based on the type and limit of this allocation too.

Leave allocations can be requested fromHuman Resources→Holidays→Allocation Requests. In its form view you can fill the following details:

• Description: A name for the request.

• Allocation Category: EitherBy EmployeeorBy Employee Category.

• Employee: If allocation category is By Employee, you must select an employee for whom this allocation is made.

• Category: If allocation category isBy Employee Category, you must select an employee category for whom this allocation is made.

• Leave Type: Select a pre-defined leave type.

• Number of Days: The number of days requested for allocation. • Reasons: Specify the reason of request.

The remaining fields are read-only and will acquire details once the request has been accepted or rejected. The employee can click Confirmto send the allocation request to his manager. The state of the request will now beWaiting Approval.

The manager will then find this request in his list of allocation requests. He can then either clickRefuse

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Figure 3.29:Allocation Requests form

3.4 Inspire your People through Assessments

A motivated workforce of people can give the best outcome for an organization. OpenERP can maintain this motivational process by periodical evaluation of employees’ performance.

The regular assessment of human resources can benefit your people as well your organization. For efficient periodical evaluation of employees’ performance, you need to install thehr_evaluation

module. The configuration wizard to install this module is shown below:

Figure 3.30:Configuration wizard to install hr_evaluation module

To create and manage new evaluations, you can use the menuHuman Resources→Evaluations →

Evaluations.

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Figure 3.31:Employee Evaluation form

manage your periodic personal evaluation. You will be able to define steps and attach interview forms to each step. OpenERP manages all kinds of evaluations: bottom-up, top-down, self evaluation and final evaluation by the manager.

The main features of the evaluation process covered by OpenERP are as follows: • Ability to create employees evaluation.

• An evaluation can be created by an employee for subordinates, juniors as well as his manager. • The evaluation is done under a plan in which various surveys can be created. Each survey can be

answered by a particular level of employee hierarchy. The final review and evaluation is done by the manager.

• Every evaluation filled by employees can be viewed through a PDF form.

• Interview Requests are generated automatically by OpenERP according to employees evaluation plans. Each user receives automatic emails and requests to perform evaluation of their colleagues periodically.

You can analyse evaluation data through the menu Human Resources →Reporting→ Evaluations Analysis.

3.4.1 Define different evaluation categories

You can create new evaluation plans fromHuman Resources→Configuration→Periodic Evaluations

→Evaluation Plans. ClickNewand fill in the following details: • Evaluation Plan: A name for the evaluation plan.

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• First Evaluation in (months) : This will be used to schedule the first evaluation date of the employee when selecting an evaluation plan.

• Periodicity of Evaluations (months): This depicts the delay between each evaluation of this plan (after the first one).

Figure 3.32:Evaluation Plans form

You must also createEvaluation Plan Phases, to let your plan evolve from one stage to another and be able to take appropriate action at every stage, like sending an e-mail. You can configure the following settings in an evaluation plan phase:

• Phase: A name for the evaluation plan phase.

• Wait Previous Phases: Set toTrueif you want all preceding phases to finish before launching this phase.

• Sequence: The sequence number of this phase.

• Action : Select an action, either Top-Down Appraisal Requests, Bottom-Up Appraisal Requests,Self Appraisal RequestsorFinal Interview. • Appraisal Form: The survey to link to this phase.

If you use the GTK-client, it will be possible to open the form view of an evaluation plan phase. Here you will be able to customize more settings, like whether you would like to send an e-mail for this phase and the corresponding layout for it. You can also choose to send the results (answers) of this phase to the managers and employees.

3.4.2 Plan assessment dates

Once an evaluation plan is created, you can use it in an evaluation of an employee. Create a new evaluation fromHuman Resources→Evaluations→Evaluations. Select anEmployeefor whom this evaluation is being designed and select aPlantoo. Here you must specify a deadline for the evaluation in theEvaluation Deadlinefield.

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Although, evaluation reminders are sent based on theFirst Evaluation in (months)andPeriodicity of Evaluations (months)fields inEvaluation Plansform. You can use these to regulate assessment dates of evaluations that utilize a corresponding plan.

3.4.3 Link survey and job evaluations

An evaluation plan is a sequence of phases, and each phase is linked to an appraisal form. This appraisal form is nothing but a survey, a tool for assessment through a questionnaire. Surveys are defined at

Tools→Surveys→Define Surveys→Surveys. When an evaluation is started, interview requests are automatically created based on evaluation plans. If you create additional interview requests, there too you have to link the interview to aSurvey. You may link to a survey that is any state (evenDraft), but in order to start the interview, the linked survey must be inOpenstate.

3.5 Attendances and Timesheet Management

In most service companies where OpenERP has been integrated, service sheets, or timesheets, have revolutionized management practices. These service sheets are produced by each employee as they work on the different cases or projects that are running. Each of these is represented by an analytic account in the system.

Throughout the day, when employees work on one project or another, they add a line to the timesheets with details of the time used on each project. At the end of the day, each employee must mark all the time worked on client or internal projects to make up the full number of hours worked in the day. If an account is not in the system, then the time is added to the hours that have not been assigned for the day.

Figure 3.33:Timesheet for a working day

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Do not confuse timesheets and attendance compliance

The timesheet system is not intended to be a disguised attendance form. There is no control over the service times and the employee is free to encode 8 or 9 hours or more of services each day if they want.

If you decide to put such a system into place, it is important to clarify this point with your staff. The objective here is not to control hours, because the employees decide for themselves what they will be entering – but to track the tasks running and the allocation of costs between them is the responsibility of the management.

To enable your system with all the features related toTimesheet, your configuration wizard should be like this.

Figure 3.34:Configuration wizard for Timesheet

Amongst the many uses of such a timesheet system for a company, here are some of the most important: • enabling tracking of the true costs of a project by accounting for the time used on it,

• tracking the services provided by different employees,

• comparing the hours really used on a project with the initial planning estimates, • automatically invoicing based on the service hours provided,

• obtaining a list of the service hours for a given client,

• knowing the costs needed to run the company, such as the marketing costs, the training costs for a new employee, and the invoicing rates for a client.

Timesheet Categories

You will need to install theManufacturingapplication (mrp) in order to access timesheet categories. The different timesheet categories (working time sessions) can be defined through the menu

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Figure 3.35:Timesheet category for full time 38 hours per week

Manufacturing →Configuration → Resources→ Working Period and selecting one of the groups there such as38 Hours/Week.

Entering Timesheet Data To be able to use timesheets fully, install the module

hr_timesheet_sheet through the Reconfigure wizard by selecting Timesheets and clicking

Configure. Once this module has been installed and the employees configured, the different system users can enter their timesheet data in the menu Human Resources → Time Tracking → Working Hours, then clickNew.

Shortcut to Timesheets

It is a good idea if all employees who use timesheets place this menu in their shortcuts. That is because they will need to return to them several times each day.

For a new entry:

1. TheUser: proposed by default, but you can change it if you are encoding the first timesheet for another company employee.

2. TheDate : automatically proposed as today’s date, but it is possible to change it if you are encoding the timesheet for a prior day.

3. Analytic Account: for the project you have been working on - obviously it should be predefined. 4. Description: a free text description of the work done in the time.

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The other fields are automatically completed, but can be modified: theProduct which is the service product such as consultancy, theUnit of Measure(predefined, and could perhaps be minutes, hours or days), theCostof the service (which is calculated by default), and the associatedGeneral Account. The hours are then encoded throughout the day by each employee. It helps to revisit the list at the end of the day to verify that the number of hours of attendance in the company has been properly accounted for. The total entered is shown at the bottom right of the list of service hours.

Hiding Service Costs

By default, OpenERP is configured to show the cost of each service when an employee encodes the number of hours per project. You can modify this field by adding the attributeinvisible=Truein the timesheet view. (And the way to do that is either to modify the view on the file system, or to use the web client to modify the view in the current database. For the latter, there is a pale grey[Customize]label to the bottom left of each form that gives you access to theManage Viewsoption. If you have sufficient permissions, you can edi